Industry Groups: Privatize Flood Program

It’s unclear what the outcome will be of a December 9 meeting on the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), but stakeholders from at least two industry factions are on record stating they will ask for the program to be at least partially privatized. This latest round of discussions follows two years’ worth of wrangling and positioning on the topic by politicians and industry groups alike.

In an attempt seen by many as an effort to move discussions on the program off dead center, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) held an NFIP public forum last week in Washington, where representatives from the Reinsurance Association of America and the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers said in a statement that the program’s guiding principles should be protecting taxpayers.